the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Hen
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or ορνις , 2 Esdras 50:30; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34 . In these last two passages our Saviour exclaims, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" The metaphor here used is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a bird of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle was about to fall upon the Jewish state; our Lord invited them to himself in order to guard them from threatened calamities: they disregarded his invitations and warnings, and fell a prey to their adversaries. The affection of a hen to her brood is so strong as to have become proverbial. There is a beautiful Greek epigram in the Anthologia, which affords a very fine illustration of the affection of this bird in another view. It has been thus translated:—
"Beneath her fostering wing the hen defends Her darling offspring, while the snow descends; And through the winter's day unmoved defies The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;
Till vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast, True to her charge she perishes at last."
Plutarch, in his book De Philostorgia, represents this parental attachment and care in a very pleasing manner: "Do we not daily observe with what care the hen protects her chickens; giving some shelter under her wings, supporting others upon her back, calling them around her, and picking out their food; and if any animal approaches that terrifies them, driving it away with a courage and strength truly wonderful?
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Hen'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/h/hen.html. 1831-2.
